Memphis City Council's Kemp Conrad proposes privatizing trash pickup

City Councilman Kemp Conrad proposed the outsourcing of city trash collectors to private owners on Wednesday. In this 2010 file photo, Memphis sanitation workers collect trash on N. Merton near Chelsea one April afternoon.

City Councilman Kemp Conrad on Wednesday proposed outsourcing the city's trash collection to private vendors, which he says could save the city $20 million a year, and setting up a $7 million to $8 million fund to buy out the 109 solid-waste employees who have at least 35 years of service.

Conrad offered what he called a "City of Memphis Reform Plan" during the council's ongoing budget hearings, recommending that the city privatize trash pickup or set up managed competition to let union workers bid for jobs, as Mayor A C Wharton suggested a year ago.

The city faces a roughly $60 million deficit to begin the fiscal year July 1, and the Wharton administration has proposed layoffs and holiday reductions along with measures such as selling the city's on-street parking assets and delinquent tax rolls.

Conrad supported the proposal backed by Memphis Fire Department Director Alvin Benson to eliminate 111 positions by attrition over three years, saying it would save the city $9 million a year.

And he said the city could save $7.7 million per year by eliminating longevity and college-incentive pay for city workers.

Conrad said paid time off for city employees currently averages 55 days per year, which he says equals 22 percent of employee work time.

"This is simply not sustainable or in line with the private sector that pays for government," Conrad said.

He proposed capping the number of paid days off for all employees (except those in public safety) at 30 to 35, with a "maximum of 15 days of paid vacation, and 5 personal days." He also said the city should eliminate the practice of awarding "bonus days" for not using sick days.

The city's college-reimbursement plan pays a portion of an employee's college tuition, then pays the worker extra once the degree is earned. Some employees get paid extra for attending courses not related to their careers.

Several council members have offered budget-saving proposals during the ongoing struggle with the deficit the city faces. Council chairman Myron Lowery said recently that by expanding the city's red-light traffic-safety program to include speed-detection cameras, the city could make more than $1.7 million a year.

Councilman Harold Collins has called for restoring 18 cents to the property-tax rate, the same amount the council returned to taxpayers after slashing Memphis City Schools funding in 2008. Collins said an 18-cent property-tax hike would generate $20.5 million.

In April, councilman Shea Flinn proposed a single-year, 39-cent property-tax assessment to raise about $43 million to pay back the school district.

Noting that a municipal election is scheduled in October, Conrad said during a news conference Wednesday that "an election year is the exact time we should be having this debate about the future of city government."

"The citizens, employees and retirees deserve the truth and a credible plan," he said. "Without structural change every year will be a battle with no room for error and no wage growth for the workforce."

Conrad said that since union representatives for sanitation workers had rejected the mayor's calls for a managed-competition proposal -- where current sanitation workers would bid against private companies for work projects -- the city should consider outsourcing all waste collection to private vendors.

Currently, private trash collectors make about 950 stops a day, compared to city crews who he says make 450 stops a day and receive a full day's pay even if they work only half a day. The city has about 500 solid-waste employees but would only need 200 under the outsourcing plan.

"I am not in favor of layoffs of one single person or layoff sanitation workers who have a job that none of us would have," said councilwoman Janis Fullilove.

Conrad also said the city should close the Crockett, Riverside, Whitehaven and Fox Meadows golf courses to save $1.4 million annually.

About 30-50 percent of the rounds played at Whitehaven and Riverside are from repeat golfers from Arkansas and Mississippi.

Council members did not vote on Conrad's proposal, but his work earned at least one admirer.

"That was the most comprehensive package ever presented to this council," said Lowery.